GB2319542A

GB2319542A - Road gully

Info

Publication number: GB2319542A
Application number: GB9718784A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hugh Grant Gemmell
Original assignee: Charles Tennant and Co Ltd
Current assignee: Charles Tennant and Co Ltd
Priority date: 1996-09-12
Filing date: 1997-09-05
Publication date: 1998-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 2017-09-05
Also published as: GB9718784D0; GB9619108D0; GB2319542B

Abstract

A prefabricated plastics road gully has an outlet socket which projects from the gully. It enables direct insertion therein of a pipe without the need for an adaptor.

Description

Road Gullies This invention relates to road gullies and in particular to prefabricated, plastics products for use as trapped or untrapped road gullies in road drainage systems.

Such plastic gullies are already known as alternatives to traditional clay or concrete gullies, and in use are installed in a pit surrounded by concrete.

Known road drainage systems use either single or twinwalled plastics pipe, e.g. high density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene, P.V.C., concrete or clay pipe components.

Nowadays road gullies are preferably mass produced in plastics by standard blow moulding techniques. Such road gullies currently have an outlet spigot, to which the external pipe connection is to be made, formed with a "male" end. Having a male outlet means that a connector or adaptor is required to join the gully to single wall, twin-wall pipe, or the traditional clay or any other types of pipework which also have in effect a free end which is male.

The principal reason for producing such a HDPE gully with a male spigot outlet is that existing production methods which utilise blow moulding techniques do not lend themselves to the production of female components as the internal diameter of the component cannot easily be controlled during moulding. Hence, as mentioned above, most of the gullies can only be installed in existing or new drainage systems via an adaptor. This of course increases the cost of supplying and fitting such gullies as the installers (a) have two joining operations instead of one and (b) also have to procure and stock a connector or an adaptor of a suitable type.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a product for use as a gully which will allow connection of the gully directly to any kind of drainage system such as plastic pipe systems or clay drainage systems etc without the need for an adaptor.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a prefabricated plastic product for use as a trapped or untrapped road gully wherein the gully is formed with a body having an integral outlet socket which projects from said body and which outlet socket is of a size and geometric form to enable direct insertion therein of a pipe without the need for an adaptor.

In one embodiment of the present invention the gully includes an integral trap and/or a rubber access plug with an integral retaining strap or chain.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a process for the production of a prefabricated plastic product, wherein the product is formed by a moulding technique with the outlet socket being formed by controlled blowing of the parison in that region of the mould or by controlled positioning or motion of a male former to provide a desired outlet size for the produced gully, and thereafter removing material from that outlet e.g. by use of a hole saw, to provide a desired outlet aperture.

The new female outlet socket is readily controlled under the forming conditions of this aspect of the present invention so that the outer diameter thereof is of a desired size to impart sufficient wall thickness for strength and the inner diameter is such as to fit around the end of a pipe e.g. one of the standard sizes 178 mm (thin wall clay piping systems or twin wall systems).

Thus according to that aspect of the present invention there is obtained a gully having an outlet socket adapted to fit a pipe directly without the intervention of an adaptor.

According to a still further aspect of the invention a gully is formed without an outlet socket by a moulding technique, preferably by blow-moulding, and subsequently a female outlet socket is attached to the gully by physical or mechanical fastening suitable fastening methods include welding including friction welding, ultrasonic welding, or fusion welding or chemical bonding, for example, use of compatible adhesives or treatment with bonding reagents, or by purely mechanical means or by combination of welding and/or bonding and/or mechanical processes.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which: Figure 1 a conventional gully formed with a male end; and Figure 2 the road gully shown in Figure 1 as formed prior to cutting off excess material to provide an outlet aperture and clean male end; Figure 3 a gully formed according to one aspect of the present invention; and Figure 4 a gully in accordance with another aspect of the present invention.

Figures 1 and 2 show a conventional type of gully, with the gully having a main flow area 1 and a outlet socket 2.

Figure 1 shows the gully ready for use whilst Figure 2 shows the gully prior to opening of the aperture 3 in the outlet socket 2.

Figure 3 shows a gully 1 with an outlet socket 2 made in accordance with one aspect of the present invention. In this case the outlet socket 2 has an end 4 with a face cut using a hole saw in order to open up the aperture therein.

Figure 4 shows a gully 1 with an oulet socket 2 and an aperture therein 3 which is made in accordance with another aspect of the present invention. The gully 1 has a preferred member 5 welded to the outlet sachet 2 and forming an integral part thereof.

A method for producing road gullies is provided wherein the components are produced by a moulding process such as blow moulding etc., in which molten or softened plastics such as high density polythene, are subjected to an internal pressure which causes it to assume the shape of a mould.

The type of process consists of extruding the plastics material as a tube, (known generally as a parison) encompassing the tube on a cold mould or former and blowing it so that it takes on the shape of the former. The tube has a closed end and when it has been softened sufficiently it is inflated, or blown so that it assumes the shape of the former. The gully, and in particular, the outlet spout is formed against a male part in the former which may, or may not, be moving during the process so that the parison will form over the male part of the former and produce a female end on the gully. The outlet aperture is then formed after the shape of the outlet is consolidated by sufficient cooling of the plastics by cutting out the desired area using a hole saw for example.

A typical road gully so produced from the aforementioned process comprises a blow-moulded high density polythene gully with a nominal outside diameter of 450 mm, and is available in depths of 759 mm and 914 mm or any other sizes as desired.

Each gully manufactured can further be provided with an internally connected side female outlet means which for example, could have an internal diameter of 166 mm or 178 mm or any other predetermined diameter required to take the diameter of the drainage pipe, thereby providing a gully with a socket member for holding said pipe.

The gully can also be manufactured so that it incorporates an integral trap, and/or outlet socket and/or a rubber access plug with an integral retaining strap or chain. It should be noted that, if the access plug is not used the gully is considered untrapped.

In an alternative embodiment a suitable socket member is preformed and either (a) placed in a mould to be attached during the blow moulding process or; (b) attached by seperate operation by welding such as by friction welding, ultrasonic welding or fusion welding or adhesives or bonding.

It is envisaged that the product may also be made by other moulding techniques such as rotational moulding, injection moulding etc.

The main advantages of this female socket are that it can be produced by modifying a conventional blow moulding process thus preventing the need for the purchase of new machinery. Furthermore, it prevents the need for the use of a connector or adapter allowing the gullies to be connected directly to existing drainage systems. This in turn reduces the cost of supplying and fitting the gullies as the installers have only one joining operation instead of two and avoids the necessity for the suppliers to have to procure and stock connectors or adaptors.

Claims

1. A prefabricated plastic product for use as a trapped or untrapped road gully wherein the gully is formed with a body having an integral outlet socket which projects from said body and which outlet socket is of a size and geometric form to enable direct insertion therein of a pipe without the need for an adaptor.

2. A product as claimed in claim 1, which includes an integral trap and /or a rubber access plug with an integral retaining strap or chain.

3. A product as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the product formed has a female outlet socket.

4. A process for the production of a prefabricated plastic product as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the product is formed by a moulding technique with the outlet socket formed by controlled blowing of the parison in that region of the mould or by controlled positioning or motion of a male former to provide a desired outlet socket size, and thereafter removing material from the outlet to provide a desired outlet aperature.

5. A process as claimed in claim 4, wherein the removing of the material to provide the outlet aperature is done using a hole saw.

6. A process for the production of a prefabricated plastic product as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein a product is formed without an outlet socket by a moulding technique and subsequently a female outlet socket is physically attached to the outlet by physical or mechanical fastening.

7. A process as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the physical or mechanical fastening is by one of the following methods; welding including friction welding, ultrasonic welding, and fusion welding, chemical bonding including the use of compatible adhesives or the treatment with bonding reagents, and the use of purely mechanical means or by any combination of the above.

8. A process for the production of a prefabricated plastic product as claimed in claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein the outlet socket is attached to the body of the gully by insitu welding or moulding during the process for production.

9. A process as claimed in any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein the outlet socket is formed about or comprises a metal member which is attached to the body of the gully.

10. A plastic product substatially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the accompanying drawings.

11. A process as substantially hereinbefore described with reference to a gully as shown in any one of the accompanying drawings.